The weight over the camp thinned the moment Haria settled back into her chair.

She shifted her eyes towards one of the squad members and asked, "Sika. How did it go?"

Sika stepped forward and knelt before he answered in a solemn tone, "The other campsites didn't find anything odd with the kareth's behaviour."

A sudden gloom slithered within the group leader's camp, and everyone's expression hardened.

Haria's brows crashed together, and she questioned, "How much time do you think it will take for them to leave the forest?"

Everyone turned their heads towards Sika, and he answered, "Two months..."

'It's just as Yuura said.'

Rion clenched his fist and looked at Haria, who was deep in her thoughts.

A few moments passed in silence until she ordered, "Get your squads ready. Rion, you stay here."

Everyone nodded and began to leave the camp one by one. All of them glanced at Rion with various thoughts behind their eyes.

Rion didn't concern himself with their thoughts and just glanced back at them with a faint smile stretching across his face.

A few moments later, Kuro stopped before him and said, "Fight me after this."

Rion frowned and wondered, 'What's wrong with this guy?' He stared into his eyes and muttered flatly, "It would be better for us to prepare for the kareths instead."

Kuro scoffed and took a last glance at Haria before stepping out of the camp.

Just as Kuro left, Haria spoke, "I did help you get the position you wanted but why didn't you just show them your true strength?"

He shook his head and walked towards her.

"It won't be effective enough. I don't just want their acknowledgement... I want them to be surprised. Shocked even. I want to leave such a mark that they remember me forever."

Her eyes blazed pleasantly, and her lips lifted into a beautiful smile as she commented, "You who used to run around like a monkey is now saying such things..." She slumped down at her table and added, "Ugh! Why did you grow up so fast?!"

A chuckle escaped him as he watched her stare at him with a reminiscing smile.

A few moments later, she straightened in her chair and asked, "So why are you doing this?"

He had asked her to play an act with him, and as his helpful big sis, she agreed. But she didn't know the reason behind his act or what he wanted to achieve by doing this.

Yet she couldn't keep herself from joining hands with him, more so because he was the one who had told him about the incoming kareth wave.

In the past few weeks, Rion had found out that Yuura's god of speed bloodline didn't just enhance him physically but also mentally, making it easier for him to learn anything. This caused him to increase the intensity of their training, and after multiple spars, he came to a conclusion.

Yurra was just as strong as half of him.

Because of that conclusion, Rion did something he never thought he would. He ordered Yuura to search the outer layer of the purple fog forest for any kind of suspicious movement because the time for the next kareth wave was near.

And after Yuura gave him the information that he was waiting for, it became much easier to ask for Haria's help.

"I want to see beyond these mountains," he answered truthfully.

Haria's smile crumbled like a sand castle, and she said, "You can't leave the mountains."

He shrugged. "My father did it."

She heaved a sigh and muttered with a saddened look, "Your father is different from us... You can't just leave as he did."

'Not this again.' He breathed dejectedly and said, "That's why I am doing this. After I get enough say within the tribe, no one will stop me."

"Ha... ha..." A dry chuckle escaped her lips, and she asked in a scratchy voice, "You think we want to stop you?"

He frowned, and his lips parted to answer, but before he could, she asked, "Have you ever seen my parents?"

His expression hardened, and he answered, "I haven't..."

She let out a dejected chuckle and said, "Of course you haven't. I haven't seen them either... so who do you think took care of me?"

He tried to think of an answer, but in the tribe, everyone lived like a family, so it could be anyone.

Her lips blossomed into a lovely smile as she answered, "Your mother was the one to take care of me... You could even say I was their first child."

He blinked his eyes, but this didn't surprise him much; his mother was just too kind, so it wasn't something she wouldn't do. Yet, it was still a surprise to know that his mother was the one who took care of young Haria.

She continued with a soft smile, "At that time, she was new to the tribe, so she unknowingly talked of the outside world... seeing her talk about it with that smile, made me want to see that world myself."

She looked into his eyes and muttered, "At the age of twenty-five, I became a group leader and decided to climb down the mountains..."

He listened to her with bated breath.

Her smile crumbled, and a fearful dawned on her. Her body trembled from that day's memory, yet she continued, "But just as I was about to leave the mountains... Something caught me, and suddenly, I felt like my body was being ripped apart, and before I could make sense of anything, I fell unconscious."

His thoughts cracked like a mirror, and he breathed, "What?"

She looked into his eyes and said, "When I woke up, your mother and father were there beside me... to hold me, but my failure stopped me from daring to call them mine..."

She stood up from her chair with a smile. A sad smile.

"Little Rio... Please, don't lose your parents just like I did... twice," she pleaded.

___

A/N:

Mehh-llo! LazyGoat here!

Sorry for the late chapter! Exams are making it hard to write... ;(

Though, it will be fine in a few days.

So, Have a great day/night! :]

Bye!

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